It is 1910, the age of flying machines is still in its infancy, and newspaper publisher Preston Whiteway is offering $50,000 for the first daring aviator to cross America in less than 50 days. He is even sponsoring one of the prime candidates - an intrepid woman named Josephine Frost - and that's where Bell, chief investigator for the Van Dorn Detective Agency, comes in.

The Thief: An Isaac Bell Adventure, Book 5

On the ocean liner Mauretania, two European scientists with a dramatic new invention are barely rescued from abduction by the Van Dorn Detective Agency's intrepid chief investigator, Isaac Bell. Unfortunately, they are not so lucky the second time. The thugs attack again - and this time, one of the scientists dies.

The Spy: An Isaac Bell Adventure

It is 1908, and international tensions are mounting as the world plunges toward war. When a brilliant American battleship gun designer dies in a sensational apparent suicide, the man's grief-stricken daughter turns to the legendary Van Dorn Detective Agency to clear her father's name. Van Dorn puts his chief investigator on the case, and Isaac Bell soon realizes that the clues point not to suicide but to murder.

The Striker: An Isaac Bell Adventure, Book 6

It is 1902, and a bright, inexperienced young man named Isaac Bell, only two years out of his apprenticeship at the Van Dorn Detective Agency, has an urgent message for his boss. Hired to hunt for radical unionist saboteurs in the coal mines, he is witness to a terrible accident that makes him think that something else is going on, that provocateurs are at work and bigger stakes are in play. Little does he know just how big they are. Given exactly one week to prove his case, Bell quickly finds himself pitted against two of the most ruthless opponents he has ever known.

The Wrecker

It is 1907, a year of financial panic and labor unrest. Train wrecks, fires, and explosions sabotage the Southern Pacific Railroad's Cascades express line and, desperate, the railroad hires the fabled Van Dorn Detective Agency. Van Dorn sends in his best man, and Bell quickly discovers that a mysterious saboteur haunts the hobo jungles of the West, a man known as the Wrecker, who recruits accomplices from the down-and-out to attack the railroad, and then kills them afterward.

The Bootlegger: An Isaac Bell Adventure, Book 7

When Isaac Bell’s boss and lifelong friend Joseph Van Dorn is shot and nearly killed leading the high-speed chase of a rum-running vessel, Bell swears to him that he will hunt down the lawbreakers, but he doesn’t know what he is getting into. When a witness to Van Dorn’s shooting is executed in a ruthlessly efficient manner invented by the Russian secret police, it becomes clear that these are no ordinary criminals. Bell is up against a team of Bolshevik assassins and saboteurs - and they are intent on overthrowing the government of the United States.

The Assassin: An Isaac Bell Adventure, Book 8

As Van Dorn private detective Isaac Bell strives to land a government contract to investigate John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil monopoly, the case takes a deadly turn. A sniper begins murdering opponents of Standard Oil, and soon the assassin - shooting with extraordinary accuracy at seemingly impossible long range - kills Bell's best witness, a brave and likable man. Then the shooter detonates a terrible explosion that sets the victim's independent refinery ablaze.

Piranha

In 1902 the volcano Mt. Pelée erupts on the island of Martinique, wiping out an entire city of 30,000 - and sinking a ship carrying a German scientist on the verge of an astonishing breakthrough. More than a century later, Juan Cabrillo will have to deal with that scientist's legacy.

The Kingdom: A Fargo Adventure

Sam and Remi Fargo return for the thrilling third adventure in the acclaimed new series. In Spartan Gold and Lost Empire, Clive Cussler brought readers into the world of husband-and-wife team Sam and Remi Fargo, whose passion and instinct for treasure-hunting has led to extraordinary discoveries-and perilous journeys. Their next adventure, however, might be their most astonishing yet.

Skeleton Coast

Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the covert combat ship Oregon have barely escaped a mission on the Congo River when they intercept a mayday from a defenseless boat under fire off the African coast. Cabrillo takes action, saving the beautiful Sloane Macintyre - who's looking for a long-submerged ship that may hold a fortune in diamonds. But what surprises Cabrillo is her story about a crazy fisherman who claims to have been attacked on the open sea by giant metal snakes in the same area.

The Tombs: A Fargo Adventure, Book 4

Husband-and-wife team Sam and Remi Fargo are intrigued when an archaeologist friend requests their help excavating a top secret historical site. What they find will set them on a hunt for a prize greater than they could ever imagine. The clues point to the hidden tomb of Attila the Hun, the High King who was reportedly buried with a vast fortune of gold and jewels and plunder....a bounty that has never been found. As they follow the trail, the Fargos will find themselves pitted against a thieving group of treasure hunters.

Lost Empire

While scuba diving in Tanzania, Sam and Remi Fargo come upon a relic belonging to a long-lost Confederate ship. An anomaly about the relic sets them off chasing a mystery-but unknown to them, a much more powerful force is engaged in the same chase. Mexico's ruling party, the ultranationalist Mexica Tenochca, is intent on finding that artifact as well, because it contains a secret that could destroy the party utterly.

Spartan Gold

Treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo are exploring the Great Pocomoke Swamp in Delaware when they are shocked to discover a World War II German U-boat. Inside, they find a bottle taken from Napoleon's "lost cellar." Fascinated, the Fargos set out to find the rest of the collection. But another connoisseur of sorts has been looking for the bottle they've just found.

Dark Watch

Juan Cabrillo and his motley crew aboard the clandestine spy ship Oregon have made a very comfortable and very dangerous living working for high-powered Western interests. But their newest clients have come from the Far East to ask for Cabrillo's special brand of assistance: a consortium of Japanese shipping magnates whose fortunes are being threatened by brutal pirates trolling the waters of Southeast Asia.

The Mayan Secrets: A Fargo Adventure, Book 5

Husband-and-wife team Sam and Remi Fargo are in Mexico, when they come upon a remarkable discovery - the skeleton of a man clutching an ancient sealed pot, and within the pot, a Mayan book, larger than anyone has ever seen. The book contains astonishing information about the Mayans, about their cities, and about mankind itself. The secrets are so powerful that some people would do anything to possess them - as the Fargos are about to find out. Before their adventure is done, many men and women will die for that book - and Sam and Remi may just be among them.

The Eye of Heaven: Fargo Adventure, Book 6

Baffin Island: Husband-and-wife team Sami and Remi Fargo are on a climate-control expedition in the Arctic, when to their astonishment they discover a Viking ship in the ice, perfectly preserved - and filled with pre-Columbian artifacts from Mexico. How can that be? As they plunge into their research, tantalizing clues about a link between the Vikings and the legendary Toltec feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl - and a fabled object known as the Eye of Heaven - begin to emerge. But so do many dangerous people.

Medusa: A Kurt Austin Adventure

In the Micronesian Islands, a top secret, U.S. government- sponsored undersea lab conducting vital biomedical research on a rare jellyfish known as the Blue Medusa suddenly disappears. At the same time, off Bermuda, a bathysphere is attacked by an underwater vehicle and left helpless a half mile below the surface, its passengers -i ncluding Zavala - left to die. Only Kurt Austin's heroic measures save them, but, suspecting a connection, Austin puts the NUMA(r) team on the case.

Corsair: A Novel of the Oregon Files

When the U.S. secretary of state's plane crashes while bringing her to a summit meeting in Libya, the CIA, distrusting the Libyans, hires Juan Cabrillo to search for her, and their misgivings are well founded. The crew locates the plane, but the secretary of state has vanished. It turns out Libya's new foreign minister has other plans for the conference, plans that Cabrillo cannot let happen.

The Storm: A Novel from the Numa Files

In the middle of the Indian Ocean, a NUMA research vessel is taking water samples at sunset, when a crew member spots a sheen of black oil ahead of them. But it is not oil. Like a horde of army ants, a swarm of black particles suddenly attacks the ship, killing everyone aboard, while the ship itself goes up in flames. A few hours later, Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala are on their way to the Indian Ocean. What they will find there will eventually lead them to the discovery of the most audacious scheme they have ever known....

Lost City: A Kurt Austin Adventure

An enzyme that will dramatically prolong life has been discovered 2,000 feet down in the North Atlantic, in an area known as "Lost City". But why are the people attempting to harvest it getting killed? Why are the scientists in a remote Greek laboratory disappearing one by one? To Kurt Austin, leader of NUMA's Special Assignments Team, and his colleague Joe Zavala, it's clear they have their work cut out for them, but it may be even bigger than they think.

The Silent Sea: A Novel of the Oregon Files

On December 7, 1941, five brothers exploring a shaft on a small island off the coast of Washington State make an extraordinary discovery, only to be interrupted by news of Pearl Harbor. In the present, Cabrillo, chasing the remnants of a crashed satellite in the Argentine jungle, stumbles upon a shocking revelation of his own.

Mirage: The Oregon Files, Book 9

In October 1943, a U.S. destroyer sailed out of Philadelphia and supposedly vanished, the result of a Navy experiment with electromagnetic radiation. The story was considered a hoax - but now Juan Cabrillo and his Oregon colleagues aren't so sure. There is talk of a new weapon soon to be auctioned, something very dangerous to America's interests, and the rumors link it to the great inventor Nikola Tesla, who was working with the Navy when he died in 1943. Was he responsible for the experiment? Are his notes in the hands of enemies?

Havana Storm: A Dirk Pitt Adventure, Book 23

While investigating a toxic outbreak in the Caribbean Sea that may ultimately threaten the United States, Pitt unwittingly becomes involved in something even more dangerous - a post-Castro power struggle for the control of Cuba. Meanwhile, Pitt's children, marine engineer Dirk and oceanographer Summer, are on an investigation of their own, chasing an Aztec stone that may reveal the whereabouts of a vast historical Aztec treasure.

The Jungle

Jungles come in many forms. There are the steamy rain forests of the Burmese highlands. There are the lies and betrayals of the world of covert operations. And there are the dark and twisted thoughts of a man bent on near-global domination. To pull off their latest mission, Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon must survive them all.

Publisher's Summary

Detective Isaac Bell returns, in the remarkable new adventure from the number-one New York Times best-selling author.

It is 1910, the age of flying machines is still in its infancy, and newspaper publisher Preston Whiteway is offering $50,000 for the first daring aviator to cross America in less than 50 days. He is even sponsoring one of the prime candidates - an intrepid woman named Josephine Frost - and that's where Bell, chief investigator for the Van Dorn Detective Agency, comes in.

Frost's violent-tempered husband has just killed her lover and tried to kill her, and he is bound to make another attempt. Bell has tangled with Harry Frost before; he knows that the man has made his millions leading gangs of thieves, murderers, and thugs in every city across the country. He also knows that Frost won't be only after his wife, but after Whiteway as well. And if Bell takes the case... Frost will be after him, too.

This is the fourth installment in a series that I have truly enjoyed since the beginning. Isaac Bell is a typical Cussler-style hero. Tall, good looking, green-eyed, chivalrous, clean cut, and really, really lucky (never gets hurt really badly, and always overcomes the obstacles that the bad guys throw his way); however, Sherlock Holmes he is not!

The usual five-star rating for the storyline dropped one notch this time, because Isaac's character was slow to realize the identity of one of the bad guys that he had direct contact with throughout the story. Just doesn't seem believable that the Chief Investigator for the premier detective agency of the time would be that unobservant.

The terminology used by the characters seems to be true to the period; however, I got really tired of hearing "on the jump" (meaning, do it quickly). Not sure why this bothered me. I suppose I expected a broader period-specific vocabulary from the characters.

The story is very creative and enjoyable. A few additional threads to follow, but all are tied together quite well.

Scott Brick gave another excellent narration performance. Some of the dialects were a little unpolished, but I relate his voice with Clive Cussler stories, so as long as he's doing the performance, he gets a lot of slack from me. If you want to lose a Cussler audiobook fan, change narrators. Scott is irreplaceable.

Justin Scott has a fifth book "The Thief" due out on 3-6-2012. I'm really looking forward to listening to it!

Improbable people, slightly to extremely preposterous dialogue, creaky plot, stiff characters as is usual for this author and still... I love this series. I like reading about the Van Dorn detectives, I love the then new but by now antique machinery so well described and somehow or other Cussler makes it all work.

He earns his money but how he makes it work is somewhat of a mystery. Disbelief gets suspended and you want to hear how it will end. (At least I did.)

In my humble opinion, this is the best Isaac Bell series book. It is very well written, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Be sure to listen to this book when you can prepare for minimal distractions. You might miss something. I love the adventure.

The Issac Bell series is the best thing to come out of Cussler since the early days of Dirk Pitt. These stories are just great for my long commutes. I looked forward to this for months and I was just thrilled when it came out. Planes, trains and automobiles! In my opinion Cussler is better at landlubber novels than he is at sea novels. But that's just me. As usual Scott Brick is outstanding. He could read the phone book and keep me listening.

Great series. Lots of derringer-do and gunplay in this one of the series, which involves early aviation, newspaper tactics of the time, and a coast to coast air race. Isaac Bell is a hero worthy of Dudley Dooright himself.

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